While much of the focus of the country remains on the areas struck by Hurricane Katrina, the people and animals hit hard by Hurricane Rita are in need.

Allan Schwartz, vice president of Days End Farm Horse Rescue (DEFHR) from Lisbon, Md., has been working equine and other animal rescues in Mississippi and Louisiana, and his team is now on the Texas border in the Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes of Western Louisiana, which were devastated by Hurricane Rita.

“Everything’s gone,” said Schwartz of the Cameron area, which is right on the Gulf. “It’s a huge cattle area, and they’ve lost 70% of their cattle. Everything was under water. So many of the cattle drank salt water that they are in really bad shape.”

“Cameron is bad, bad, bad,” said county extension agent Tommy Shields, who was reached today (Oct. 5) on his cell phone in Hackberry, La., in the Cameron Parish